Category: General

john z, the delorean and me...

10/21/2015

Barrie Wills, the longest serving employee of DeLorean Motor Cars Limited (1978-1983), tells the inside story on the development of the car by Lotus, building of the factory, recruiting the staff and assembling the DeLorean car all in a record 28 months in strife-torn West Belfast, Northern Ireland. With 392 pages of text and hundreds of color and black and white photos, Barrie's book will be referenced in the DeLorean community for years to come.

I was pleased to be a part of getting this book into publication and have found it to be a fascinating read! Like my book, this is available from

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Updated Second Edition now available!

9/12/2014

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The updated second edition of The Illustrated Buyer's Guide to DeLorean Automobiles is now available from Amazon.com, eBay.com, delorean.com and most DeLorean dealer locations.

As time passed after the book was first released in 2012, I came across a few things that I felt needed to be added in regards a some minor things to look for when evaluating a DeLorean. I also came across a listing of all the company cars used at the factory and for RHD development, which nicely accompanied similar data from the US-side of the company.

I also took the opportunity to re-take a few of the photographs and fix a couple typos that somehow got missed in all the rounds of being proofed the first time around.

As I was able to reach an agreement with a group in Japan to translate and publish the book into Japanese, it made sense to use the same text/photos/illustrations for both the English and Japanese versions. More details on the Japanese version will be forthcoming in 2015.

All in all, I am even more pleased with the way this edition has turned out, and think readers will be, as well.

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Why low mileage DeLoreans don't carry the price premium sellers think they do...

2/19/2014

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This is something that buyers run up against all the time. The seller thinks that because the DeLorean they are selling has "low miles" that it has extra value over and above a mechnically and cosmetically identical car simply for that reason alone. This is rarely the case.

A general rule of thumb regarding mileage is that typical used cars will average 12-15K miles per year. With that math, the typical 30 year old car would have in excess of 300,000 miles on the odometer. I can only think of a handful of DeLorean cars with anywhere near this kind of mileage on them.

A quick look at eBay listings of other makes and models of cars in the same age range as the DeLorean shows few cars in excess of 200,000 and most in the 100,000 mile or so range.

Relative to other collector cars of the same general era, there seems to be an abundance of DeLorean cars with low miles - less than 30,000 miles is normal. As I briefly mention in the book, there are multiple reasons for this - some good, some bad. I also talk about how ways you can use to determine the accuracy of the mileage shown on the odometer.

A couple of times a month, I get a phone call from someone with a very low mileage DeLorean for sale - sometimes even less than 50 miles. Most recently it was a car with just 7 miles on the odometer.

The seller invariably dismisses the fact that the car has admittedly been sitting most of its life, many times in less than optimum conditions. All they see is the low miles and believe the car must carry a significant price premium over other DeLorean cars. There are several fallacies in this thinking:

While a low mileage DeLorean car may have excellent cosmetics, it will very likely need the same amount or in some cases more (dollars and time) to be made mechanically sound as a higher mileage car. Think brakes, fuel, electrical, cooling, transmission, tires, weatherstripping, etc.
A fair number of low mileage DeLorean cars will need cosmetic attention, as well. Headliners, at a minimum, possibly stainless repair from being used as a "shelf" in the garage or being bumped by bikes, lawn equipment and trash cans moving in and out of the garage.
Rodent damage is more common in lower mileage cars. While they frequently leave the wiring alone, it's not unusual to see evidence of rodents in the A/C system (yes, it stinks), fusebox/relay compartment, storage cubby, jack stowage area, even under the intake in the engine - the latter of which can cause severe damage.

Compounding all that is the simple fact that most DeLorean cars today are being sold to people who want to drive and enjoy them (rather than display them). Therefore, the price premium being asked for the low mileage evaporates once the car is made to run correctly, driven and mileage begins to accumulate. This is even worse for DeLorean cars that have never been titled/registered and sold on a "Manufacturer's Statement of Origin" or MSO. As soon as the car is registered, a significant chunk of the price premium is lost without hope of recovery.

Sellers will sometimes naively believe that there is a museum or collector who will pay the premium for their ultra-low mileage DeLorean. Generally speaking, most museums are non-profits and few have the budget for something like this - and there are more sellers out there than buyers - some who will even consider donating their car for a tax deduction (or loan it for display - can you say free climate controlled, secure storage?).

The days of the car having appeal to lots of super high-end collectors willing to pay top dollar for cars to add to their collection are not here yet, either. And a smart collector know the economics discussed above and offers accordingly, as well.

So what mileage should you be looking for? In my mind, the sweet spot today is somewhere in the 20K or very low 30K range. That gives you some room to add miles - especially if you use it as a weekend/pleasure vehicle - and still have a car with less than 50K or so miles about 5-10 years down the road. Remember that a tankful of gas once a month is recommended (~200-250 miles) and if you must store the car over the winter months, proper storage is key. As more time passes, this "sweet spot" mileage number will probably rise somewhat.

What does this mean for buyer? A couple of things - don't get hung up on having a super low-mileage car, for one. They are almost always not worth the effort and added cost. That said, If you don't plan on keeping the car for long, consider your resale return. Lower mileage today with regular use means relatively lower miles at resale time. Higher miles today with regular use means even higher miles (and lower price) at resale all other things being equal.

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PDF preview of the book added to the site, next posting and evaluating Ebay ads

10/3/2012

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Take a look over at the right side of the screen - just below the "Free Preview" text is a link to a PDF preview of the book, just in case you haven't seen any part of it yet. Check it out.

I'm doing the final edits to my next posting here, and should have it ready this weekend - several people have asked about this subject, so I'm hopeful that many of you will also find it interesting.

A couple readers have emailed and asked me to post my thoughts and evaluate various DeLoreans available on eBay based strictly upon the ad and the photos supplied by the seller. If that's of interest to you, let me know by posting a comment below. If there is a particular car that you'd like me to evaluate as I've just described, post a link or the auction ID number.

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transporter's handbook

6/29/2012

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As mentioned in The Illustrated Buyer's Guide to DeLorean Automobiles, the original DMC created a special "hand book" to explain and illustrate the special handling requirements of the DeLorean car as opposed to other "regular" cars.

I've only seen a couple of these books over the years, and they appear to be fairly rare. I'm grateful to The DeLorean Museum for allowing me to scan and post this PDF (3.5mb) of the book.

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what's this site for?

6/12/2012

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I'll use this site to post updates and news as they pertain to The Illustrated Buyer's Guide to DeLorean Automobiles (aka TIBGDA). There are a few things I wanted to include in the book that just wouldn't practically fit, so they'll be posted here, as well.

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it's complete!

6/7/2012

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Final stats - 122 pages, 227 photos/illustrations, 31,593 words and 8 years in the making...

Many people, when shopping for a DeLorean, live in an area where the one they are considering may be the only one available for miles around. This means they often have nothing to compare it against, unlike more common collector vehicles. This book serves as a reference as to what is right, what is wrong, what to "snap up" and what to run away from.

Available at the DeLorean Car Show 2012 (DCS) in Orlando, June 14-17th, and also at Amazon.com and from the DeLorean Motor Company store.

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john z, the delorean and me...

Updated Second Edition now available!

Why low mileage DeLoreans don't carry the price premium sellers think they do...

PDF preview of the book added to the site, next posting and evaluating Ebay ads

transporter's handbook

what's this site for?

it's complete!

free preview!

where to buy

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